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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-02-11 HRA Minutes MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY 1830 COUNTY ROAD BEAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2009 CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Pearson called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Commissioner Rita Andreoli Commissioner Josh Richter Chairperson Gary Pearson Commissioner Joy Tkachuck Vice-Chairperson Beth Ulrich Present Present Present Present Present Staff Present: Tom Ekstrand, City Planner Dave Fisher, Building Official Bob Mittet, Finance Director III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Ulrich moved to approve the agenda as presented. Commissioner Andreoli seconded. Ayes - all The motion passed. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The January 14, 2009 minutes were not available for review and will be presented in the next packet. V. COMMUNICATIONS a.Discussion-Meeting Start Time (change to 6 p.m.?)-no memo City Planner Ekstrand explained most of the city commissions are starting at 7 p.m. but the community design review board starts at 6:00 p.m. A 6:00 p.m. start would be beneficial in managing time and an earlier end if the H RA member's schedules would allow. Two members thought a change would likely conflict with their current schedules. After discussion by the commissioners it was decided to continue with the 7 p.m. meeting start time. b. Presentation by Staff-An Overview of the Department's Reorganization-no memo City Planner Ekstrand gave a short review of the community development department's reorganization. Mr. Ekstrand said that director of community and parks development, DuWayne Konewko, had planned on giving a more in-depth presentation, but was unable to attend the meeting due to a family emergency. VI. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a.lnternational Property Maintenance Code Discussion (IPMC) Planner Ekstrand presented the staff report explaining that staff now feels that there are sufficient existing ordinances in place in the city that cover the same issues and address the same problems as Housing and Redevelopment Authority -2- Minutes of 02-11-09 the IPMC. Mr. Ekstrand said there would be very little to gain and it would also be costly for the city to contract to use the IPMC. Commissioner Tkachuck asked what the surrounding cities are using. Planner Ekstrand responded that most cities have regulations such as nuisance codes and property maintenance codes, but was not aware how they might compare on building codes issues. Building official Dave Fisher responded that Roseville and White Bear Lake have license programs with IPMC. Building official Fisher said he would like to put this issue on hold until the city gets to a point of doing a rental license program. Commissioner Tkachuck said it is important to have a standardized process. Building official Fisher said the city ordinance is more restrictive with residential rental properties than for owner-occupied properties. Mr. Fisher said the IPMC also applies to commercial properties and would affect more areas than city ordinance. Mr. Fisher said there are planning and zoning requirements already in place in the IPMC. Mr. Fisher said the majority of nuisance complaints deal with parking issues, garbage, junk vehicles and overgrown yards. Commissioner Pearson said when the commission previously reviewed this issue there were questions about commercial application, but when enforcement records were studied it was found there were no commercial complaints and only residential complaints. Planner Ekstrand said that it is a goal of the department this year to get the recent code amendments added to the ordinance on the city's website. VII. NEW BUSINESS a. Report on Foreclosures Planner Ekstrand introduced city finance director Bob Mittet, who gave a report on foreclosures in the city. Mr. Mittet presented information on the worst five states in the country for foreclosures and also for Minnesota and the neighboring four states. Mr. Mittet showed a Ramsey County map illustrating the foreclosure count of sales by census block groups for northern suburban cities. Planner Ekstrand said that staff has been meeting with Ramsey County and neighboring cities to discuss foreclosure issues. Mr. Ekstrand said the county will apply for grants to be used for acquisition, clean up and possibly removal of foreclosed properties that are problem sites. Mr. Ekstrand said staff will eventually be working with Ramsey County identifying problem properties located in Maplewood. Commissioner Ulrich asked if it would be possible to get a map of foreclosures for Maplewood only and the status on whether they are still vacant or have been resold. Ms. Ulrich said she would like to see better record keeping begin as the city looks toward more foreclosures in the future. Ms. Ulrich said she is uncomfortable with Maplewood letting Ramsey County take the lead and Maplewood needs to be proactive with Ramsey County on this issue. Mr Mittet said Federal criteria for grants is based on minimum population and Maplewood does not have a high enough population number to apply for the grants on its own. b. Code Enforcement Update Planner Ekstrand explained the code enforcement report listing the number of enforcement cases worked on by the department. Planner Ekstrand said data will be reported to the commission annually. Housing and Redevelopment Authority -3- Minutes of 02-11-09 Commissioner Tkachuck said she feels an annual report would not show a trend if there were something that needed to be addressed and suggested that data be reported quarterly to the commission. Planner Ekstrand said staff would provide quarterly reports as requested. Building official Fisher explained that some of the elevated numbers of enforcement data are due to lawn mowing services that the city has provided to foreclosed or vacant properties with overgrown lawns. Commissioner Tkachuck suggested that asterisks be added to the items that are done for foreclosure properties. Mr. Fisher said that foreclosed properties could be so noted in the data. Commissioner Ulrich suggested that the vacant or foreclosure property data could be broken out of the general data numbers and entered separately. Ms. Ulrich asked if the city is contacting the vacant property owners. Mr. Fisher said if the city is unable to contact the owner, the property is posted and then after ten days the city then needs to take care of the problem. Commissioner asked if the foreclosure data could be entered by the location area in Maplewood. Mr. Fisher responded that this could be done, but it would take quite a bit of time for the code enforcement items since it is a larger list. c. Amendment to HRA Bylaws-Special Meeting Notification Planner Ekstrand explained the proposed modification to the HRA bylaws to change the special meeting notification from two to three days in order to be consistent with the Minnesota Open Meeting Law. Commissioner Ulrich moved to adopt the changes proposed to the Housing Redevelopment Authority bylaws that modify Article III, Section 3 (Meetings) to be consistent with the Minnesota Open Meeting Law which requires at least 72 hours notice for special meetings. Commissioner Tkachuck seconded Ayes - all Chairperson Pearson said at the previous meeting the subject of Maplewood securing levy authority was discussed. Mr. Pearson asked if the information that Mr. Konewko has on this issue could be given to the commission for discussion at the next meeting. Planner Ekstrand agreed. VIII. DATE OF NEXT MEETING March 11, 2009 IX. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:56 p.m.